Kotor Restaurants on the Bay— Where to eat in Kotor, Tivat and around Montenegro's bay

Most people searching for Kotor restaurants start inside the Old Town walls, and the walls are where the crowds stay. The bay, though, is long and narrow, and the best tables tend to sit just outside the gates: along the waterfront at Dobrota, a few minutes north of Kotor, and across the water at Porto Montenegro in Tivat. You gain space, a view of the mountains falling into the water, and kitchens that are not cooking for a cruise-ship turnaround.

Our three restaurants sit on that stretch. Moments is in Dobrota, a short walk along the bay from Kotor Old Town. Mira by Moments is also in Dobrota, a 10 minute taxi ride from the Old Town. Marea by Moments is on the seafront front line of the luxury super yacht marina at Porto Montenegro in Tivat, about 25 minutes from Kotor by road and 10 minutes from Tivat airport. Between them they cover the three evenings most visitors want: a relaxed dinner with live music, a milestone celebration, and a long lunch by the water.

Moments is the original, and the one to start with if it is your first night on the bay. The kitchen is contemporary Asian fusion — a wider menu than the other two, built to be shared and to run long. The room is deep green and gold; there is a bar with a retractable roof, a bistro beside the music and a roof terrace looking out over the water.

Live music plays on the front terrace every evening in season, which is the practical difference between Moments and most restaurants in Kotor: the table is somewhere you stay rather than somewhere you eat and leave. The kitchen serves from 5 pm to midnight. In July and August a waterfront table at sunset needs booking ahead.

Mira by Moments is the quiet one: a small fine dining room in Dobrota, dinner only, from 7 pm. There is one thing on offer and it takes an evening — seven courses, either meat and fish or a fully plant-based version that is also gluten and dairy free, with an optional curated wine pairing at €50 per person.

This is the table for a milestone: an anniversary, a proposal, a birthday that deserves more than a menu with sides. Because the room is small and there is effectively one sitting, it books out first in high season. If you have a fixed date in July or August, reserve it before anything else on the trip.

Among Montenegro restaurants, Marea by Moments is the one that works at any hour. It sits on the marina front line at Porto Montenegro, and the menu is Mediterranean with a focus on fresh fish and lobster — oysters, catch of the day — running alongside an all-day menu and a breakfast and healthy selection served from 8 am.

So it takes a late breakfast off the boat, a long lunch in the heat, and dinner as the light goes over the bay, through to midnight. It is also the easiest of the three with a pushchair: flat, open and right beside the water. Marina berths and parking are close by, and Tivat airport is roughly 10 minutes away.

July and August are the tightest months on the Bay of Kotor, particularly for waterfront tables at sunset and for Mira by Moments. Shoulder season — late spring and September — is the quiet secret: the water is still warm, the terraces are still open, and a table the same week is usually possible.

On price, Moments and Marea sit around €€€ and Mira by Moments at €€€€ for the tasting menu, with the wine pairing as an optional addition. All three take online reservations through OpenTable on their own pages, and all three welcome children.

The bay is a road with traffic and a waterway without. Momentum, our Saxdor 270 GTO, runs private transfers across the Bay of Kotor to all three restaurants, and can fold a dinner into a tour of the bay earlier in the day — Perast, Our Lady of the Rocks, the Blue Cave and the submarine tunnels.

For eight guests or more, our events team plans private dining at any of the three, from wedding receptions and welcome dinners to anniversaries and corporate evenings, with flowers, photography, a bespoke set menu, live music and boat transfers arranged around it.